Batumi, Rd. 8: The lead changes again

4/29/2016 – The Women's Grand Prix in Batumi remains lively even though round eight saw an unusually high number of draws: in five of the six games the point was split. Anna Muzyzuk was the only player who could win. She defeated Zhao Xue which allowed her to catch up to the leaders. With 5.0/8 Anna Muzychuk now shares the lead with Nana Dzagnidze and Valentina Gunina.

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In round eight five of the six games of the Women's Grand Prix in Batuni were drawn, an unusually high number of draws in this tournament. But there was no lack of fighting. Almira Skripchenko and Valentina Gunina, for example, played for more than 80 moves before they decided to split the point.

Anna Muzychuk, who played against Zhao Xue, was the only who managed to win. In a modern line of the Italian Game a position had a stronger attack than her opponent which then led to a better endgame and a win.

See also

12/30/2017 – The "King Salman World Blitz & Rapid Championships 2017" in Riyadh from Decemer 26th to 30th. At the half way point of the Blitz Championship, the defending champ Sergey Karjakin leads with 9 / 11. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is a half point back followed by Peter Svidler and a trio of Chinese: Wang, Ding and Yu on 8 / 11. In the Women's Pia Cramling has a full point lead with 9½ / 11. Watch live with Rounds 11 to 22 from 12:00 Noon CET (6:00 AM EST) on Saturday with commentary by E. Miroshnichenko & WGM K. Tsatsalashvili.

See also

12/6/2017 – Imagine this: you tell a computer system how the pieces move — nothing more. Then you tell it to learn to play the game. And a day later — yes, just 24 hours — it has figured it out to the level that beats the strongest programs in the world convincingly! DeepMind, the company that recently created the strongest Go program in the world, turned its attention to chess, and came up with this spectacular result.

Video

The Exchange Variation (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3) is a simple and easy to learn answer to the Caro-Kann. By clarifying the central tension White gives himself a clear plan of attack using the half open e-file and the e5 square. This is far from easy for Black to meet as Bobby Fischer, Jan Timman, Walter Browne and other leading Grandmasters have demonstrated in their games. Black too has his resources but he needs to know what he's doing. On this DVD you will find a clear explanation of the strategy for both sides as well as answers to popular treatments such as 4...Nc6 5.c3 Qc7. Whilst the main focus is on the White side of this opening you will also find ways for Black to defend.